When the thousands of international delegates, government ministers and heads of state land in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos this month for the G20 summit, they will first see the craggy, sun-baked mountains that form the spine of the Baja California peninsula.

Then, just as they catch a glimpse of the alluring dark blue sea beyond, they are likely to disappear for the rest of their stay into windowless meeting rooms in hotels and in the region’s new conference centre.

This is not how most international visitors spend their time in Los Cabos – and with good reason. For what until 50 years ago was a sparsely populated and isolated tip of rocky desert separating the Pacific ocean from the Sea of Cortés has grown into the country’s most upscale tourist destination.

Hi Guy, Not to throw cold water on your topic, but the G20 is not where the real action is. It is the G8 where the real decisions are taken. Then the G20 either accepts it or ignores it. This year the meeting is even less important since whatever might be discussed and decided might and probably will be ignored my the new Mexican president and U.S. president after the up coming elections.

Believe me Mitt Romney will ignore anything agreed to by Obama. I do not know enough about Mexican politics to go beyond that a new president might want to chart his or her own way once in office. The location couldn't be any more gorgeous, so maybe the leaders will discuss things around the pool and a barbeque. Wouldn't you meet in Los Cabos, if you had a choice of locations to choose from in Mexico

I'd disagree with you though on what power the G20 has...most of the G8 countries are broke going hat in hand to those others of the G20, or the BRIC countries as they are also known. Russia, China, Brazil (in particular),Mexico, India...these are the people who will bailout the 'developed' world.

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:21 am Post subject: You underestimate some of the developed countries...........

Thanks for continuing the conversation. I won't go into detail, but I believe that at least 2 developed countries, if they get a change in leadership with the right policies they can turn things around rather quickly half their unemployment in less than 2 years and see their debt fall rather quickly.

The problems are government caused and only the private sector can fix it. Watch and see how at least 2 countries rise from the ashes once they change leaders and policies. You can take it for granted that the present leader north of here will be unemployed by this time next year and things will be changing rapidly. Then the G20 will have to listen to at least 2 countries of the G8.

Thanks for continuing the conversation. I won't go into detail, but I believe that at least 2 developed countries, if they get a change in leadership with the right policies they can turn things around rather quickly half their unemployment in less than 2 years and see their debt fall rather quickly.

The problems are government caused and only the private sector can fix it. Watch and see how at least 2 countries rise from the ashes once they change leaders and policies. You can take it for granted that the present leader north of here will be unemployed by this time next year and things will be changing rapidly. Then the G20 will have to listen to at least 2 countries of the G8.

The US and what other country? I can't guess the 2nd...

Debt seems to be the big issue, everywhere. For too long, EU countries and the US have financed the bubble with debt. Obama has his Tea Party over it and you can see where the EU is right now. Other G20 countries like Russia, China, Mexico, Brazil, and India are in great fiscal positions right now and can afford to make a lot of demands.

I don't see how the US can dig out of where it is right now without a major economic revolution. In the 90's, the .com bubble brought wealth. In the 00's, everything collapsed. This decade is supposed to be green...maybe it will come. Maybe not.

The problems are government caused and only the private sector can fix it.

This seems to me to ignore that what brought about the financial collapse of 2008-9 was excessive private debt, not public. No governments failed, but without public support of collapsing banks, the financial system would have. Additional public debt was created by the various countries attempting to shore up their financial systems, ultimately leading to a need for bailouts for some of the governments, too.

The current crisis, over EU debt, is a continuation of the processes set in motion in the previous decade when very loose, private lending permitted housing bubbles to develop in a number of countries.

That the private sector can solve all the problems is, to me, akin to a religious belief, untested and probably untrue.
______________________

Recent data from the Federal Reserve indicates U.S. personal wealth has now retreated to a level last seen in 1992.

The collapse of the housing market was caused primarily by a law called "The Community Reinvestment Act" past by congress in 1978 signed into law by President Carter at first it just encouraged banks to lower financial standards for home ownership. In 1996 President Clinton had it modified basically forcing banks to lend money for homes with almost no income verification this created the "sub-prime " lending market this was then transfered to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the two quasi-public quasi-private holders of home loans this then entered Wall Street. This derivative market infected all the big banking companies. In normal times banks insisted 20% down before you could get a loan 10%, if you were a veteran. The new requirements were less than 2% forced on the banks by the government, so yes the government caused a "housing bubble" which caused the 2008 collapse of the housing market.

The solution is to go back to the original requirements. As far as the debt the new debt plan by the Simpson-Bowles commision, if followed would bring about a balanced budget by 2015 or 2016 with increasing surpluses after that to help pay down the public debt. I know that this is a lot to digest, but I wish people would understand that Yes it was private debt that brought about the collapse in 2008-09, but the private debt was caused by a government law again " The Community Reinvestment Act" without this law there is no " Housing Bubble" and no collapse. So my earlier statement stands it isn't "Funny or Naive" it is a fact. The government caused the collapse of 2008-09 and only the "private sector" can fix it, if the government gets out of the way and starts to pay down its debt through the Simpson-Bowles commision's solutions.

And you think the government just came up with those laws all by themselves? The private sector lobby has been writing it's own laws in exchange for campaign finance for quite some time now. And suceeding of passing the blame back onto the government in the eyes of the public.

The point is that it was the derivatives market that provided the massive amounts of capital necessary to float the loans being made for home purchases in the 2000's, and derivatives and all that followed were creations of the "private sector".

Lowering the lending standards did not make money to lend freely available; the derivatives market, did.

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:13 pm Post subject: I'm no spaceman just a person who knows history do you?

The Community Reinvestment Act was in place in 1978. The dervatives market didn't start until the mid-1990's right after Bill Clinton modified the Community Reinvestment Act the derivatives market was created YES by the private sector, but without the CRA the dervatives market would never have been created. I know people want to blame the big bad bankers and the bankers had their fingers all over this, but it was the government who created the conditions for it. I'm not going to get into an arguement over this lets just say I wrote a thesis on this and my professor himself checked my sources and he was stunned when he checked them. This isn't speculation or cheering for one side or the other as several people have said in history"Facts are Stubborn Things" you can't argue when it's in black and white. If you don't believe me just wait as what I have said comes to pass. As I said the government created the conitions they are responsible for the 2008-09 collapse. The private sector will fix it, if they are allowed to. By the way I'm not the one calling people names here. Did you know people who call other people names usually do so, because their arguement doesn't hold water?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 12:13 pm Post subject: I'm no spaceman just a person who knows history do you?

Quote:

By the way I'm not the one calling people names here. Did you know people who call other people names usually do so, because their arguement doesn't hold water?

Okay, so nobody called anyone names here. T. did not call you a spaceman (per your post header). T. asked if spacemen put something somewhere. I lost the plot when the thread went offtrack again, into US politics, history, and other stuff unrelated to the world conference in Cabo.

...nobody called anyone names here. T. did not call you a spaceman....

Thank you for pointing that out, Samantha.

The focus of the G-20 meeting in Los Cabos has been how to deal with some of the consequences of the financial collapse of 2008-9. The side story has been the shift in global economic power such that Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and Mexico could pledge extra money to the IMF to help deal with the immediate crisis in the European bond markets, while the U.S. could not. (President Calderon was quoted as saying the political stalemate in the U.S. left its leaders powerless to act to offer additional, financial support for Europe.)

It was a great time for Mexico at Los Cabos, to be hosts for this important meeting and to have, for the moment, a President that conducts himself with dignity, intelligence, and eloquence on the world stage.